I was very happy to receive your letter. God is with us both in prosperity and in adversity. He comforts us with His comfort to an eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Even in the most pitiable circumstances He is there, and in the most blessed circumstances He is there also. God in man is Christ Jesus, but God outside of man cannot be comprehended. The Son has revealed the Father, and the Father is revealed in the Son. The Son is the Son of Man in order that He might destroy the humanness of man, and He is the Son of God in order that He might bring forth the God-like man. As human beings we have an affinity for nature, but since there is something even better, we must let go of the things we like best in order to lay hold of and cling to that which is eternal and divine. Sin is self-will. Self-will is a will outside of God’s will. God is not the head of one’s self-will; rather one sets oneself up as head. The devil also did this. He withdrew with all his glory and gloried in himself instead of in God. This was sin. He separated himself from God, and since God is not divided, he ended up outside of God and in himself. Instead of beholding his glory in God, he admired his glory in himself. God’s will was that Adam should not eat of the fruit of the tree, but Adam discovered another will in himself and established a basis outside of God. He became conscious of himself and began to admire himself. That’s also why he discovered his nakedness, which he did not notice as long as he only beheld God.

Being formed into the image of God takes place when we surrender our self-will and become absorbed in God’s will. When this happens, the One whose will we obey becomes our Head, and we are in the kingdom where God’s will is done—the kingdom of heaven. In this kingdom we have a good conscience, because only His will is done. All our own honor and all self-love is outside of God; these only serve to exalt the ego. God is a whole—one entity—and He is not at variance with Himself. Therefore, any party in conflict with another party is not of God, unless the one party is contending in God against the other party who is in the power of darkness.

I hear you are reading the letter to the Romans. Justification apart from works of the law is clearly explained there, but there is also much that is difficult to understand. The law came that sin might be made known, and if our best works are like filthy rags, just imagine what the worst ones are like! So, we can’t gain anything that way. But when we completely surrender ourselves and give up trying to carry on with the works of the law, but rather allow Him to work in us both to will and to do, then the will of God will be done. When I think that I am good enough to keep God’s commandments, it is clear that the strength I have is in myself. But when I have given up everything, it is clear that if anything is going to be accomplished, God must do the work and He must provide the power. Then when God does give strength, it will be in abundance, because the kingdom of heaven consists of power.

A person who is in bondage to the law has much confidence in his own ability, and he will be deeply offended if you tell him that he needs to stop believing in himself and come to faith in God. A person who has come to know himself has lost confidence in himself. He has stopped pretending to be a Christian, but he lives Christ. Others may call him whatever they want.

Most Christians are under the law—not the Law of Moses; but they slave away under that law which is inscribed on tablets of flesh of the heart. With an upright mind they try to keep it, but alas, the more they slave away, the stricter the law becomes. And if they continue slaving away even more, they must inevitably conclude: “Something’s wrong here, I have been slaving away beyond all reasonable limits, and the accusations are still raining down on me. I’m done with all this bondage; it’s no use anyway. All of this is just devilry, full of hypocrisy and a complete sham.” When you arrive at this conclusion, then you are dead with Him. Are you dead with Him? In those who are, life is manifested—eternal life. Previously, their life was their own, but now God is their life, for they realized their own life was unworthy. For two-and-a-half years I slaved away so earnestly that at last I gave up entirely and told God that I just wasn’t able to live like a Christian. To this very day I have not changed my mind about that. Anyone who thinks he can manage to live like a Christian, he is quite the hero; actually he’s just a hypocrite. Give yourself a good tongue-lashing. It will give you more joy than you can imagine, because in saying the worst about yourself, you come closest to the truth.

Preach this precious gospel to those who think they know something, then perhaps you also will be shown the door out of the various synagogues. If so, then these words would be fulfilled: You would be put out of the synagogues and hated by all men for My name’s sake. Personally, I am excluded everywhere I go, but I thrive nonetheless. God has given me of the riches of His grace, and that is sufficient. Satan has stretched out his nets, but God has delivered me from all of them. Sometimes people say that I am of the devil, and at other times they say: “Did you ever hear anything so glorious!” But whether they say the one thing or the other, my confidence is in God, who will save me both in honor and dishonor, in evil report and in good report.

My testimony in Christ Jesus is that He is my Savior and Satan is my enemy. My flesh is my enemy, and my desire is to come to a perfect hatred of that flesh. The princes of this world and the children of iniquity grieve my soul and create within it a powerful indignation. The strength of it consumes me in my own zeal. Such is my godly fear. No one shall rob me of my joy; no one can rob me of my faith; no one can rob me of my doctrine; no one can trample me in the dust; and no one can overpower me in this faith of mine, which is the faith of Christ. If this is boasting, it is the boasting of Christ. If this is honor, it is Christ’s honor. And if this is power, it is the power of Christ. If anyone says that I am boasting according to the flesh, he has little understanding of the power of God.

Write soon.

Your brother,

I have just received your letter, but I’m sending this one all the same. Wisdom is the mother of love rather than love being the mother of wisdom.

Ask Father to write and tell me how many chief paymasters there are in Norway.

Greetings to all at home.